J.H.L.-3   

April 21st, 2025

Blackrock 1 – 15 V 1 – 13 Crosshaven @ Church Road.

Report By Roger Ryan:

Our Junior Hurlers had to dig deep to overcome a strong Crosshaven side in a 13 a-side League game played at Church Road on Monday evening. Playing against the wind in the first half, Darragh Murphy opened the scoring with a point but Crosshaven with 4 unanswered points pushed ahead to lead by 3. Darragh Browne brought us back to within a point again with 2 points on the trot. Crosshaven and Darragh then swapped points to leave it at 0 – 04 to 0 – 05 before Crosshaven scored twice again to lead 3, 0 – 04 to 0 – 07. Darragh's point was quickly followed by a point from Crosshaven, and the Ref blew for half time with the board showing Rockies 0 – 05, Crosshaven 0 – 08. Having played the wind, we felt we had done well and looked forward to doing better with the wind in the second half.

Cian Coughlan and Vinny Hassett came on for the second half and immediately made their presence felt with some strong running and great scores when we needed them. With 2 early points, Crosshaven doubled their lead at 0 – 05 to 0 – 10 and appeared to be getting a grip on the game. A fine point by Vinny Hassett reduced their lead to 4 and Darragh with a mighty free added another point. Eoin Browne, Cian Coughlan, and Vinnie Hassett got us back to parity with some great scores and Darragh Murphy converted another free to push us ahead by a point 0 – 11 to 0 -10. Darragh then blasted home a goal to give us a lead of 4 points 1 – 11 to 0 – 10. Mikey Whelan was sprung from the bench at this stage. Crosshaven had the next 2 points and Darragh added one for us to bring our lead back to 3 points, 1 – 12 to 0 – 12. 

Crosshaven then got through for a goal, converted a 65, and suddenly we found ourselves a point behind. 1 – 12 to 1 – 13. Cian Coughlan then levelled matters again with a point and Darragh Murphy with two mighty frees, closed out the scoring leaving us worthy winners by 2 points on a score of 1 – 15 to 1 – 13. David O'Shea's long deliveries were a bonus with the wind and our entire backline withstood some severe pressure particularly in the second. Darragh Murphy was unerring in his free-taking and his goal proved decisive. A great team effort overall and a hard earned and well-deserved victory for our boys.

Scorers: Darragh Murphy 1 – 10(09f), Vinny Hassett 0 – 02, Eoin Browne 0 – 01,Eoin Coughlan 0 – 01, Cian Coughlan 0 – 01.

Team: David O'Shea, Conor Long, Sean Cormack, Dave Walsh, Kevin Morgan, Cormac Casey, Hugh Espey, Sean O'Riordan, Denis Moran, Eoin Browne, Darragh Murphy, John Griffin, Conor Sweeney. Subs Used: Cian Coughlan, Vinny Hassett, Barry Grainger, Scott O'Sullivan, Mikey Whelan.

Referee: Sean Forde.